Nightmares
by aaronlisa
Summary: Other nightmares that Willow has during the First Season episode "Nightmares."


**Title: **Nightmares

**Fandom:** _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

**Pairing/Characters: **Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Buffy Summers, Rupert Giles, Angel, with hints of Willow/Angel

**Rating:** FR13

**Disclaimer:** _Buffy the Vampire Slayer _belongs to Joss Whedon and company.

**Prompts:** Written for the Which Willow ficathon for the following prompt: _What other nightmares could Willow have gotten caught living?_

**Notes: **Set during episode 1x10 "Nightmares."

**Summary:** _She can't help the terror that she feels._

**Word Count: **1678

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Willow is in the library searching for Giles so that she can return one of his books that he had lent her when she had expressed an interest in following in his footsteps and becoming a Watcher. When she doesn't see him, Willow calls out for him. There is no response and she doesn't feel comfortable in just leaving the book for him on his desk. She'd rather give it to him in person, especially since she has a question for him.

Before she leaves for her class, Willow decides to take a look in the stacks since he might not have heard her when she came in and called out for him. Instead of Giles, Willow finds Angel lurking in the stacks, looking at a book. For a moment, she swears that she sees his demonic face until he turns and looks at her and Willow assumes that it was just a case of nerves.

"Angel," Willow says, uncertain of what she should say to him.

He looks at her blankly and she reflexively swallows as she becomes more nervous around him.

"It's Willow," Willow clarifies, "Buffy's friend."  
"Oh," Angel states before turning back to his book.  
"Have you seen Giles?" Willow asks.

"No."

She starts to find it a bit odd that Angel should be in the library during the day without Giles being around. Yet she doesn't quite know how to vocalize it nor does she know what to do. Willow's torn between staying until Giles arrives and just leaving since she is starting to become uncomfortable. Before she can make a decision, Angel turns to face her, a look of disgust on his face.

"Shouldn't you be running off to class or something?"  
"I was just looking for Giles," Willow replies.

"Yeah and he's not here. He's probably avoiding you or something. Buffy's told me how annoying you are with your incessant blabbering and spewing of knowledge. I can't say that I'd want to be around that first thing in the morning."  
"S-she wouldn't say that," Willow quietly states, certain that her friend wouldn't be like that.

Angel takes a few steps towards her and Willow's hand clutches the strap of her backpack tightly as she tries to hold her ground. His eyes are golden and she knows that earlier when she thought she saw his demonic face wasn't some trick of the light.

"Did you know that Buffy only uses you for your brain and nothing more? You're not even worth draining, you're so boring."

Willow turns on her heel and rushes out of the aisle before bumping into Giles.

"Giles!" Willow exclaims.

"Willow are you alright, you look pale?" Giles asks her as his hands grip her shoulders.  
"Angel is in there."  
"Willow, there's no one there."

He gently turns her around so she can see for herself that the aisle is empty. She is perplexed by what had just happened.

"Are you sure that you are alright?" Giles asks her.

"I could have sworn that Angel was there," Willow replies before shaking her head.

She leaves the library, forgetting to give Giles his book and she doesn't know what to make of it until she remembers the bad dream that she had the night before. Willow decides that it was just a trick of the light and a bad case of nerves since she has a test later on. After all, she knows that Buffy would never say anything bad about her or their friendship.

***

Willow is against splitting up from Xander and Giles to find Buffy. Logically she knows that it will help them to find Buffy faster but at the same time, the fear of her nightmares coming alive make her pause. The nightmare in the library with Angel was bad enough but ever since she had learned about vampires and demons her nightmares have become worse.

Yet before she can say anything to stop Xander and Giles, they're gone in different directions. She can only hope that her tamer nightmares come to life. She'd rather be caught naked in front of a classroom like Xander had been earlier than be caught in a live version in some of the other nightmares she has had in the past few months.

***

When she realized that she was having her opera nightmare, there is a part of Willow that is relieved. She can't help the terror that she feels when the director shoves her onto the stage and she is confronted with the audience and the knowledge that she knows none of the words that she is expected to sing. Willow is frozen to the spot and she is grateful that there are no monsters waiting to jump out and attack her.

It's not until someone throws a rotten tomato at her that Willow can finally turn and run. She pushes through the velvet curtains with her heart pounding in her chest as she gasps for breath. Her skin feels clammy underneath the silk of the kimono and it seems as if she can't find her way through the curtains. The boos from the audience are louder and they start to throw more things at her. When she finally pushes through, a hand grabs her wrist.

She struggles against her unknown assailant, thinking that they are going to push her back on the stage to face the angry audience again. The hand on her wrist seems to grow tighter and tighter despite her struggles and she is pulled to the side.

"Let me go!" Willow cries.

"Its okay Willow, calm down."

Willow stops in her struggles at the sound of Angel's voice. She warily turns to face him, but his face is normal and his eyes are brown and gentle. He looks at her in the green silk kimono and he raises an eyebrow at her and for a moment it's as if she is back on the stage again with voiceless as everyone waits for her to sing the words that she doesn't know.

"What's happening Willow?"  
"Our nightmares are coming to life," Willow explains, "Why are you here, Angel?"

"I don't know, one moment I was in my apartment and the next I was here."  
"Are you really you?" Willow asks, nervous that this Angel will turn cruel on her again.

He looks at her and weighs her words before he nods at her. His grasp on her wrist loosens as he pulls her along.

"We should keep moving."  
"We were looking for Buffy," Willow tells him, "Giles, Xander and I were that is. But then I heard a voice and I came downstairs and ended up on the stage."

She shivers as she remembers the horror of being on stage again and she stops moving as the sounds of the angry audience envelope them again. It sounds as if they're coming closer and closer to where she and Angel are standing backstage. Willow turns to look at Angel when he suddenly lets go of her wrist and turns from her.

"Angel?" Willow asks.

"You need to get out of here Willow."

"What's wrong?"

"I can't control myself Willow, you need to leave now."

Willow places her hand on his arm, trying to reassure him, but he jerks his arm out from under her hand.

"Now Willow!"

"Angel, what's wrong?" Willow asks.

Angel turns around and snarls at her. His face is that of the vampire's all ridges and bumps with golden eyes. Willow jumps backwards and a scream gets caught in her throat. This is worse than the library when he had cruelly taunted her. He growls and moves forward and she starts to run until she finds a door and she pushes it open with, hoping that another nightmare doesn't await her outside of the door.

***

After it's all over, none of them really talk about their nightmares. Instead Buffy goes off to have her weekend with her father and the rest of them go home. No one wants to talk about the nightmares that had become real. Instead they pretend that everything is normal like the rest of Sunnydale does.

Willow ends up in front of her computer at home as she attempts to do her homework. Instead she finds herself lost in the moments of the day and the two nightmares involving Angel. She doesn't remember having a nightmare with Angel attacking her instead that seems more like something that Buffy would have had.

She's lost in her thoughts when there's a knock on the French doors to the balcony. Willow cautiously gets up and goes to the door, for a moment she thinks it might be Xander sneaking over because of the day. When they were younger he had done that quite a bit, neither of her parents nor his had ever clued in and thankfully he had never been hurt by the vampires or demons that roam the streets of Sunnydale.

Instead of Xander, it turns out her visitor is Angel and for a moment, it's as if she is caught in another nightmare. Until she remembers that Buffy saved the day and stopped the nightmares.

"Angel?" Willow asks, "Can I help you?"  
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay."  
"I'm fine."  
"Giles told me what happened today," Angel tells her.

"And you had a nightmare."  
"Yes."

"So that was your nightmare, wasn't it?"

Angel nods at her and she wonders why she hadn't thought of it before, especially since the whole town had been affected by nightmares. She touches Angel's hand for a moment.

"I'm okay Angel, I know that you'd never hurt me."

"You shouldn't trust me Willow. I am still a vampire."

He turns and leaves, fading into the night and Willow finds herself more confused. It would make more sense if his nightmare was about harming Buffy instead of her. Willow closes the French doors and picks up the phone by her bed and calls Xander. She suddenly doesn't want to analyze the day and the nightmares anymore.

**END**


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